summer 2013

CASCADIAQUARTERLY

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Backyard Forestlands in Western Oregon in CrosshairsLegislative and Administrative Proposals Threaten Clean Water and Salmonby Josh Laughlin, Campaign Director

What will happen to public forestlands like these in the Alsea drainage on the Salem BLM District? (Benton Forest Coalition)

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news + fun from cascadia wildlands

Our backyard forestlands in western Oregon continue to be looked at as piggybanks for struggling counties. Both the Obama administration and the Oregon Congressional delegation are fast advancing proposals that could have lasting impacts on our clean water and wild salmon legacy.

Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has offered up a bill that would put nearly 1.5-million acres of western Oregon BLM lands into a timber trust to be logged in perpetuity to fund counties into the future. While the bill has some token conservation measures, it would drastically undercut the landmark 1993 Northwest Forest Plan, which was put into place to keep a handful of fish and wildlife species from going extinct. Senator Wyden hasn’t advanced anything, but his office is working overtime to get legislation introduced in the coming month. Based on a legislative framework he released earlier this year, we expect the bill to present a host of challenges.

On the administrative front, the Department of Interior and local BLM Districts are sticking to their timeline for round two of the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) with a draft Environmental Impact Statement for pubic review expected next fall. This effort falls on the heels of the failed WOPR pushed by the Bush Jr. administration. Due to ongoing county funding challenges and other reasons, we expect WOPR II to radically increase the cut on our BLM forestlands.

The recent forestry work of Drs. Norm Johnson and Jerry Franklin will certainly be woven into these concurrent efforts. Architects of the landmark Northwest Forest Plan, both Johnson and Franklin have been advocating for “ecological forestry” treatments on our public lands, and the BLM has employed them to lead a series of controversial pilot projects on various western Oregon BLM Districts over the past few years.

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staff Nick CadyLegal Director

Francis EatheringtonConservation Director

Bob FerrisExecutive Director

Camille GullicksonDevelopment and Operations Coordinator

Josh LaughlinCampaign Director

Spencer LennardBig Wildlife Advocate

Kaley SauerOutreach Coordinator

Gabe ScottAlaska Field Director

board of directorsLaura Beaton, TreasurerJeremy Hall, PresidentPaul KuckLauren PadawerSarah PetersTim ReamTim Whitley, Secretary

advisory council Kate AlexanderAmy AtwoodJason BlazarRalph BloemersSusan Jane BrownAlan Dickman, PhDJim FlynnTimothy Ingalsbee, PhDMegan KemplePollyanna Lind, MSBeverly McDonaldLauren Regan, AAL

contact PO Box 10455Eugene, OR 97440541.434.1463 info@CascWild.org

One of the nice things about being an organization accumulating a string of significant successes like the Oregon wolf settlement, marbled murrelet injunction, the suction dredge legislation in Oregon, and the Coos Bay coal port victory is that you tend to act like a magnet.

And our magnet attracts people like Kaley Sauer who just joined us in the newly created position of outreach coordinator. She is excited about applying her dedication to art towards her passion for wildlife and wild places. And so are we.

We also attract programs which was the case in late July when Big Wildlife and Spencer Lennard decided that Cascadia Wildlands was the most appropriate home for these visionary programs to bring needed attention and protections to Cascadia’s mammalian carnivores.

The blessing and curse of growth for us is elbow room. Our offices are simply too small to accommodate our current

or projected needs. Given the market and interest rates our most logical option might be to buy. Our vision is to create a funky conservation clubhouse and we hope you will give just a little bit more this year — a tip if you will — so that we can create this vision and so much

more for wild places across the face of Cascadia. Thanks so much for your support.

Help Us Continue to Do Morefrom Executive Director Bob Ferris

This summer Cascadia Wildlands appealed the Umpqua National Forest’s decision to log the Loafer timber sale. The agency is proposing to log so heavy in a remarkable and beautiful old-growth forest that threatened northern spotted owls would no longer use those forests for nesting, roosting or foraging. Loafer would even cause the “take” of four owls in an area that has been designated as “critical habitat” by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the species.

This project is also in wolverine (see sidebar) habitat, a species about to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and will punch several miles of new roads into the “Dread and Terror” roadless area, part of the increasingly popular Crater Lake Wilderness proposal.

Some of the Loafer timber sale units would log over the Dread and Terror Ridge hiking trail. The Forest Service proposes to cut the stumps low near the trail with hopes the public won’t notice the destruction.

Unit 302 would be logged directly above the well-known North Umpqua hiking trail where it leaves

the Umpqua Hot Springs parking area, one of the most popular recreation spots on the Umpqua. The Forest Service admits that some signs of logging might be seen from the hot springs, but dismisses it as inconsequential.

The agency never considered if logging could impact the hydrology of the North Umpqua trail. The section near the Hot Springs is remarkable because of its walls of dripping moss, water

trickling over rock columns, gushing springs and waterfalls. Leaving as few as 20 trees per acre after logging operations and blasting a new road through rock outcrops will greatly alter this unique area.

Part of the Loafer proposal was deferred in this decision because the

Forest Service had not surveyed for the great gray owl, a rare and beautiful

raptor that hunts in nearby meadows. Cascadia Wildlands has no objection with keeping prairies and meadows open through prescribed burning, by natural fires in remote areas, or with small commercial logging projects in fire suppressed stands. We have not appealed those proposals. We have only appealed degrading native forests and rare wildlife habitat in roadless and recreation areas, solely for the purpose of meeting timber targets.

Stay tuned as we hone our strategy to stop this destructive project.

Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Another predator species is making a comeback in Oregon: the wolverine. Weighing 40-50 pounds, the wolverine has a ferocious reputation, able to take down much larger prey. The wolverine is found in higher-elevation, alpine regions and relies upon large roadless areas, or seclusion habitat, with late-spring snow melts for denning purposes.

Here in Oregon, a wolverine site is suspected near the threatened Dread and Terror roadless area (see Loafer article to the left) that provides suitable late spring denning habitat. Cascadia hopes to leverage the presence of the imperiled wolverine to preserve this unique area.

The elusive wolverine has been in legal limbo for years with the federal government not offering it the protection it deserves. However, this past spring, Cascadia Wildlands signed onto comments submitted by the Western Environmental Law Center supporting the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s long-awaited plans to list the wolverine under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Big Timber Grab Proposed on UmpquaLoafer Sale Would Log in Proposed Crater Lake Wildernessby Francis Eatherington, Conservation Director

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Wolverine (Gerald and Buff Corsi)

Loafer logging unit (F. Eatherington)

Landmark Settlement Reached for Oregon WolvesNew Plan Emphasizes Responsible Livestock Husbandry and Accountabilityby Nick Cady, Legal Director

OR and WA Wolf Packs and #s While the numbers are not official until the end of the calendar year, best estimates suggest that there are between 60-70 confirmed wolves in Oregon across seven packs. The state recently confirmed that all seven packs had pups in 2013. To the north, Washington has 10 confirmed packs and approximately 70 wolves. While Washington has three packs in the Cascades, all of Oregon’s wolf packs are concentrated in northeast Oregon.

Cascadia’s wolf campaign in Oregon has been a dramatic tale. It heated up three years ago, when the state hired Wildlife Services, a federal agency now being investigated for mass allegations of animal cruelty, to shoot Imnaha pack wolves from helicopters after a series of livestock losses were attributed to the pack. The state was spending tens of thousands in taxpayer dollars on the execution at a time when there were just over ten wolves and one breeding pair in the entire state.

This prompted a series of lawsuits by Cascadia Wildlands and allies, which culminated in a complaint and restraining order filed in early October of 2011. A month prior, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced that it was going to kill the alpha male of the Imnaha pack. This sent our newly barred attorney scrambling to find a way to prevent the removal of the only breeding pair in the state. After several long nights, Cascadia was able to write a legal challenge, recruit two other conservation groups as co-plaintiffs, and on October 5th, filed suit asking the Oregon Court of Appeals to enjoin the ongoing hunt for the Imnaha’s alpha male. That very day, the Court granted our emergency motion and enjoined the state from killing wolves. Cascadia Wildlands v. ODFW Commission set the stage for negotiations between plaintiffs Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild and Center for Biological Diversity, the Governor’s office, ODFW, and the livestock industry.

After two years of negotiation, a landmark agreement was finally reached. The agreement requires the

employment of responsible livestock husbandry practices and thorough use of proactive, non-lethal techniques to preempt conflict between wolves and

livestock prior to resorting to lethal control of chronically depredating wolves. Chronic is now defined as four qualifying depredations by a wolf or wolves in six consecutive months. The agreement also drastically increases the transparency and accountability of the agency.

On July 19th, this agreement was memorialized into law by Governor John Kitzhaber (D-OR) and will guide the actions of the livestock community and ODFW for years to come. Oregon now has the most progressive, protective and legally binding wolf conservation plan in the country.

With wolves in Oregon secure for now, Cascadia has turned its focus upon wolves in Washington state. Just last year, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife killed the entire Wedge pack in extreme northeast Washington. While Washington has developed a relatively strong wolf plan, it is not enforceable by law. On July 19th, Cascadia along with other conservation groups, filed a petition to require Washington to make its plan an enforceable rule. We plan to meet with the agency soon and will report on any details thereafter.

Oregonʼs Mt. Emily pack pups, born spring 2013 (ODFW)

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In moist forests of the Coast Range, “ecological forestry” consist of clearcutting a stand of trees while leaving “aggregates” or clumps of unique forest structure within the clearcut. The alleged purpose is to stimulate a shrub component in the stand to support species that benefit from this type of habitat. While we see the need to benefit early seral forest dependent species, we don’t believe it should be at the expense

of critters teetering on the brink of extinction, like the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.

Co-hosting with Oregon Wild, Forest Web of Cottage Grove and others, we will be presenting at a forum about the fate of our western Oregon BLM lands at the Eugene Public Library on Monday, August 26 from 6-8 pm. Visit www.cascwild.org for more information, and learn about what you can do.

“There were never any good ‘ole days… That’s a stupid thing we say, cursing tomorrow with sorrow.” —Gogol Bordello

Excited rhetoric has been flying around Alaska’s Tongass National Forest this summer. Depending who you listen to, these are the best of times, the worst of times, or the same old times as ever.

Lets start with the worst of times. In a late June appearance before the Senate, Alaska’s chief forester offered a fire-and-brimstone vision. The local economy is in ruins, schools are disappearing, jobs are drying up. There used to be lots of mills and loggers in Alaska; today hardly any. His solution? Give a couple million acres of the nation’s biggest forest to him to manage as a tree farm. Give industry enough trees to log, and the glory days will rise from the ashes. Almost nothing he said was true, but it’s good politics.

The Obama administration touts a different, more optimistic vision. In early July, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued what appeared to be a visionary announcement. The Tongass will transition away from old-growth logging into a sustainable logging industry based on thinning second growth, he says. The announcement was full of glorious rhetoric.

Doing restoration thins rather than clearcutting old-growth works in the Pacific Northwest, and many environmentalists are instinctively taken in by it. But the timber industry isn’t, and in this case, the facts are on their side. Unlike Washington and Oregon, Alaska isn’t an agricultural area. The second-growth here isn’t big enough to log, won’t be for a generation,

The Economy is the Salmon, Stupid Tongass National Forest Missing the Boat with Massive Big Thorne Projectby Gabe Scott, Alaska Field Director

and even then isn’t profitable. And unlike Oregon there is no ecological imperative to thin Tongass second-growth. The second-growth transition is a nice liberal talking point, but it doesn’t pencil out.

So that’s what people are saying, but what are they doing?

July 1, the Forest Service announced the decision to log the Big Thorne timber sale. This thing is an absolute monstrosity. Big Thorne will cut about 150 million board feet from over 6,000 acres of old growth, and a couple thousand acres of second-growth, on Prince of Wales Island. It will also devastate deer, wolf, and salmon habitat. This is the vaunted transition? New boss looks just like the old boss.

What I find interesting is that it’s uniformly assumed logging is the irreplaceable core of the economy. Everyone seems to agree it’s the Forest Service’s job to sustain a logging industry. They differ only in how.

Reality check — Tongass logging provides about 100 jobs; fishing provides about 7,200. Even in its heyday, timber provided only half the jobs fishing does. Factor in tourism and subsistence, and the economic benefits of intact forest far outweigh the benefit of logging. And those logging jobs come at the expense of the fishing, subsistence, and tourism jobs (not to mention a taxpayer subsidy of about $200,000/ job).

Here’s my point: Nostalgia is not a good basis for an economic plan. The logging industry is dying, and that’s fine. Let it go.

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Save the Date: 11th Annual Wonderland Auction Saturday, December 14, 6-10 pm • EMU Ballroom (University of Oregon)

As strange as it is to think about winter during the dog days of summer, our Wonderland Auction is our biggest and most important fundraising event of the year, so mark your calendars now for December 14, 2013! Join Cascadia Wildlands, Mountain Rose Herbs, the University of Oregon Outdoor Program, and our community supporters for live music, a gourmet buffet dinner by Ring of Fire, local beer and wine, and exciting live and silent auctions.

Last year, our partnership with more than 200 local businesses and individuals such as yourself raised nearly $40,000 for our conservation work and attracted more than 300 attendees.

More information, including volunteer opportunities and presale ticket info, available soon. We’re also getting a head start on procuring our auction items for the year, so if you’d like to learn more about the benefits of donating or sponsoring, please contact me at (541) 434-1463 or camille@cascwild.org.

— Camille Gullickson

Our 10th Hoedown for Cascadia’s Ancient Forests on Saturday, May 18, at Avalon Stables outside Cottage Grove was a resounding success! The evening was full of square dancing to the bluegrass of the Conjugal Visitors and caller Bob Ewing, connecting with community members about our conservation work, and merrymaking in the countryside. A vegetarian chili dinner, lovingly prepared by our hard-working board members and volunteers, was enjoyed by all, as were local microbrews from sponsors Ninkasi, Falling Sky, and Oakshire. The water balloon toss and sack race were a riot, and a raging bonfire and riveting fire dancers closed out the evening.

Benefit events like the Hoedown help sustain our conservation work and build community, and they wouldn’t be possible without the support of our sponsors, donors, many volunteers, and attendees. Thank you! Our deepest thanks to the following local businesses that donated food or other in-kind contributions to the 10th Hoedown for Cascadia's Ancient Forests: Cafe Mam, Capella, De Casa Fine Foods, Eugene City Bakery, Eugene Weekly (Sponsor), Falling Sky Brewing (Sponsor), Friendly Street Market, Great Harvest Bread Company, Groundwork Organics, Hey Bales! Farm, Horton Road Organics, Kettle Foods, Kiva Grocery Store, Laughing Planet Café, New Day Bakery, Ninkasi Brewing (Sponsor), Oakshire Brewing (Sponsor), Organically Grown Company, Surata Soy Foods, Sweet Life, The Bread Stop, Toby's Family Foods, and Voodoo Donuts. And a special thank you to the following individuals and groups for making the event possible: Aaron Nelson and Friends, Bob Ewing, Codi French, Conjugal Visitors, Dan Kruse, Gaye Lee Russell, Janine Nilsen (owner, Avalon Stables), Misha English, Murray Hawker, Pollyanna Lind, and Wendy Gregory (The Studio: Wendy Gregory Photography). — Camille Gullickson

10th Hoedown a Smashing Success!

10th Wonderland Auction (Elizabeth Brown)

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WWW.CASCWILD.ORG

444S Foundation

Astrov Fund

Ben & Jerry’s Foundation

Brainerd Foundation

Burning FoundationCharlotte Martin Foundation

Deer Creek Foundation

Earth Friends Conservation Fund

Fund for Wild Nature

Furthur Foundation

Kenney Brothers Watershed Foundation

Klorfine Family Foundation

Lazar Foundation

Leotta Gordon Foundation

Loeb-Meginnes Foundation

Mazamas

McIntosh Foundation

Mountaineers Foundation

Mark Frohnmayer Donor Advised Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation

Roger Millis Donor Advised Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation

McKenzie River Gathering Foundation

Meyer Memorial Trust

Norcross Wildlife Foundation

Rex Foundation

Sperling Foundation

Strong Foundation for Environmental Values

Suwinski Family Foundation

University of Oregon Outdoor Program

Weeden Foundation

Wilburforce Foundation

Winky Foundation

Thank you to all of our individual and family supporters and the many volunteers who help us protect wild places! Huge thanks to the foundations and community groups that have recently made substantial contributions to support our

Business Champions ($10,000+)Mountain Rose Herbs

Business Champions ($5,000-9,999)Patagonia, Inc.

Business Partners ($2,500-4,999)Tactics Board Shop

Business Sustainers ($1,000-2,499) Pivot Architecture

Business Friends ($250-999)Backcountry Gear Ltd.Medicine FlowerRiver JewelrySouthern ExplorationsSundance Natural Market

BUSINESSES GIVE BACKA sustainable planet is essential to sustainable business. That’s why more and more companies are actively investing in Cascadia Wildlands. Business support saves wild places from imminent destruction and wildlife from extinction. Please join us in thanking and patronizing the visionary businesses that recently supported our work with generous cash contributions:

Cascadia Wildlands is a proud recipient organization of 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier planet.

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In addition, hundreds of businesses contribute goods and services to support Cascadia Wildlands, especially through our annual Wonderland Auction. Please help us thank the businesses that support our work with generous in-kind contributions: Discovery Voyages

Ninkasi Brewing CompanyPaul’s Bicycle Way of Life

CASCADIA WILDLANDS we like it wild.PO BOX 10455 • EUGENE, OR 97440

US PostagePAID

Nonprofit Org.Permit No. 82Eugene, OR

what’sinside?

summer 2013

BLM Forests in Crosshairs

Big Thorne Pokes Tongass NF

Landmark Wolf Agreement Reached

Wonderland Auction: Dec. 14

Cascadia Wildlands is proud to partner with Falling Sky Brewing, a place where friends and neighbors can enjoy hand crafted beers and sodas, barrel-to-tap wines, and delicious food in Eugene. “Preserving our wild spaces is very important to us at Falling Sky,” says Jason Carriere, owner and brewer.  “It may take a year or two to build a brewery, but these wild spaces have been built over thousands of years, and we believe it is our duty to our children and the planet to preserve these valuable resources.” A sustainable planet is essential to sustainable business. That’s why more and more companies like Falling Sky are actively investing in Cascadia Wildlands. In particular, Falling Sky has donated brew kits to our Wonderland Auction, as well as donating fine ale for our Hoedown this past spring. Thanks Falling Sky!

Business Supporter in Focus: Falling Sky

“The Fate of Western Oregon’s O&C Forestlands”

Monday, August 26 • 6-8 pmEugene Public Library

Join Cascadia Wildlands, Oregon Wild, Forest Web of Cottage Grove and other concerned community members for a presentation about the future of western Oregon’s public forestlands, also known as O&C lands. These forests provide 1.8-million Oregonians with clean drinking water, offer habitat for imperiled fish and wildlife, and store incomparable amounts of carbon, yet politicians are looking to ramp up the cut on these “backyard” forests in order to fund county services. Come learn about what you can do.